Winding Roads Eventually Bring You Home
by my shangri-la
Summary: This is a TFATF/Takers Crossover. POST- Fast FIVE. And there is a smidgen of plot from Brick Mansions twisted into this too, but you don't need to watch that movie to understand what's going on. (I'm just using it as part of an undercover background.) CHAPTERS 1-3 HAVE BEEN EDITED!
1. Chapter 1

_**Winding Roads Eventually Bring You Home**_

 **Disclaimer: Hahahahahaha! No, I own nothing.**

 **Summary: This is a TFATF/Takers Crossover. Yes, I'm serious. And there is a smidgen of plot from Brick Mansions twisted into this too, but you don't need to watch the movie to understand what's going on. (I'm just using it as part of an undercover background.)**

 **Rating: M? …I think.**

00 This chapter has been edited 00

 _ **READ THIS STORY OVERVIEW FIRST!**_ (It was pointed out to me that this might be slightly confusing, timeline-wise, and that a few things should be mentioned to make everything smoother, so that's what this is.)

Where we are in the **FatF timeline** :

This will be mostly canon through Fast 5… and the beginning scene of 6, where we see Dom and Brian driving to get to Mia who is in labor.

Hobbs is still hunting the Toretto crew in his spare time.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be glossing over the whole 'Elena' thing, just to make it easier on myself. Maybe they had a short-term thing, but ultimately decided they lived different lives. So, I'd guess that Dom is staying in the giant beach house with the family. (The idea of Dom living alone makes me sad.)

00

Now for the **Takers:** I am changing the heist completely. Let's say the whole crew is fully operational. I might leave Gordon's sister out of it, but I don't know yet. They **are** being investigated by the NYPD, and Jack Welles is going to make an appearance (I'm not sure about his partner, Eddie – I may just forget the whole mess with him stealing that money) and we'll probably see a bit of Lt. Carver (Hobbs has to talk to somebody!)

 **If there's any other things you'd like me to clarify, just ask, and as long as it's not a** **major** **spoiler, I'll fill you in!**

0

 _ **Prologue**_

 _ **Sixteen months ago:**_

" _ **We'll figure it out. We always do."**_

 _00_

 _Letty thought back on their last night together trying to figure out where it had all gone wrong. It was early, but Mia had already left for the day. So Letty took her coffee mug out onto the back porch._

 _She'd been back in Los Angeles for just over a month, and she was still mulling over what to do._

 _Dom had left her to figure it out on her own… whether he liked it or not. It was her life too. And if he would have remembered, she'd never taken kindly to the idea of him making decisions for her._

 _It was a fool's chance, bringing Dom home._ _If it was even possible._

 _And Letty knew she'd need help. She wasn't naïve enough to think she could pull it off on her own… She barely had a plan…_

 _Okay, so she had no plan whatsoever._

 _ **Letty hadn't mentioned to Mia all the things that had gone wrong during her visit, just saying that Dom was alright, and that he missed her. She had mentioned that Dom had thought they should split up again, but she'd kept the messier details to herself…**_ _ **definitely hadn't mentioned that she wanted to try to find a way to bring Dom home.**_

 _She needed someone who might be as reckless as she would be._

 _Behind the wheel, it might be all about control, but she felt desperation clawing at her insides like it was a living, breathing animal._

 _ **There would only be one chance.**_

 _It's not like she could just walk into the police station and ask them to make her a deal though._

 _She frowned into her steaming coffee, an idea slowly formulating in her mind. Letty shook her head immediately, trying to dislodge it._

 _ **No.**_

 _But-_

 ** _There was one cop who might help her… she might even_ _say that he owed her a favor._**

 _After ten minutes of fighting with herself, she had pretty much given into the idea that had come out of nowhere._

 _And there was no one else._

 _She'd long ago lost the comfort of having a group of people who had her back, and would do anything for her at a moment's notice. And there wasn't anyone she could trust, or that would risk themselves the way she might have to do._

 _Letty was prepared to step into a mess, and at this point in her life, there was only one person she could even think of that might be willing to do the same._

 _And that was only if he really was still the person she thought he'd been all those years before, when their lives had blown up._

 _Hector hadn't just called Brian 'Snowman' because he'd been one of few blondes in a sea of dark skin. And Dom had told her once they got to Mexico that he'd jumped on a moving semi to save Vince, and then went after Johnny Tran before tossing his keys to Dom and letting him escape._

 _Brian O'Conner._

 _She_ _groaned out loud_ _._

 _Her options were bleak, and she really_ _ **was**_ _this desperate._

 _Dom might be grateful, or he would have to forgive her for what she was about to do._

 _But she was going to track down the former undercover cop that had ripped their family in half anyway._

 _She at least wanted to hear what he had to say._

 _0_ _0_

 _It took Letty_ _almost two_ _week_ _s_ _to find out that Brian O'Conner was working for the FBI._ _She couldn't exactly go around asking her usual people._

 _She wasn't very surprised._ _Well… actually? She had a hard time picturing him in a suit, to be honest. And it didn't seem natural thinking of Brian at a desk job shuffling papers._

 _S_ _he put those thoughts aside for now._

 _If he was someone else, she might worry about her approach. Instead, she decided to follow him. Letty had to wait until he left the federal building to get to his car._

 _She shook her head at the time, wondering absently if he was planning to ruin someone else's life._

 _It was after eleven-thirty when he finally appeared._

 _She watched him get in his car – a very functional sedan,_ _and five years ago she would have made fun of him for hours over how awful it was_ _– from where she had parked around the corner. She followed him semi-discreetly. It didn't matter to her at this point if he knew it was her or not._

00

 **Present time:**

"If we're going to pull this off, it would be a hell of a lot easier if we had a few more drivers", John frowned a bit irritably. _Not only had they_ _ **just**_ _finished a job less than two months ago, but they only had two weeks to plan the best way to steal a moving_ _ **armored**_ _truck._

Letty bit her cheek to hide her grimace. _She'd been waiting for some kind of sign to tell her when it would be time for her to go back to her family, and they'd been on her mind lately. Working with another team felt wrong. And John may be Brian's body-double, but she couldn't even pretend to confuse them, they were so different._

"I know some people who can handle the driving", she heard herself say. "It might take them a few days to get here though."

John eyed her appraisingly for nearly a minute. "People you trust?"

She nodded once, decisively. "Yes."

 _Letty had made it clear during the_ _ir_ _first long conversation that she trusted no one._

Finally he nodded, "Alright. Do it." She was already walking away when John called her name. "It's on you to keep your people in line."

Letty refrained from snorting derisively. _Yeah, right._ "I'll take care of it", she called over her shoulder.

 _00_

 **A/N: Oh, boy! I don't think I've ever been more terrified of posting my writing. Let me know what you think of the beginning? I think. Yes, I do want to know. I'm feeling anxious, but I'm going to try to suck it up and not whine about it. The next will get posted tomorrow evening at some point if you guys want it. **hides under a pillow****


	2. Chapter 2

_**Winding Roads Eventually Bring You Home**_

 **Disclaimer: Hahahahahaha! No, I own nothing.**

 **Summary: This is a TFATF/Takers Crossover. Yes, I'm serious. And there is a smidgen of plot from Brick Mansions twisted into this too, but you don't need to watch the movie to understand what's going on. (I'm just using it as part of an undercover background.)**

 **Rating: M? …I think.**

00 This has been edited 00

 _ **Chapter 1**_

Letty drove far enough away that she was certain no one was following her, and found herself at an Internet café. She did the only thing she could at this point and crossed her fingers, hoping that Brian would come through for her one more time. _If he did, she promised herself she'd buy him a car… even if it was one of those damn foreign on_ _e_ _s he loved._

Letty's mouth twitched. _Brian's love for Skylines was incurable. She'd tried._

She found the website they'd agreed on, and logged into her account before searching for his user-name that was buried pretty far into the website because it hadn't been used since this had all started. It was probably unrealistic to expect he still checked his email, but she was mentally crossing her fingers anyway. He had told her that he would leave it open… _but that was before he thought she'd died._

Her fingers typed out a message anyway.

' _B. I need you to bring me home. But you have to come here first. L.'_

Underneath, she typed a predetermined arrangement of reversed and inverted numbers that would let him call the extra burner phone that she had with her.

She sent the message. Letty waited a bit to make sure she didn't get a mailer daemon back before finally logging off her account and clearing the browser history and cache. Letty got back in her car and decided to go back to her studio apartment off Canal Street just outside of Tribeca. She needed to try to get a few hours of sleep.

 _She wanted to put off thinking about how to deal with the consequences of her actions that would soon be speeding at her with force enough to rival a freight train._

00

Brian didn't get the alert for his email right away. He'd been on the beach with Mia, playing with Jack, and Dom was around, so he'd left his phone on the kitchen counter, not expecting anyone to call.

Several hours later, Dom was firing up the grill, and they came out of the water to get Jack cleaned up a bit before dinner.

"Your phone's been making noise", Dom called as Brian passed him, jogging towards the sliding glass doors with Jack on his shoulders.

Brian nodded. "I'll grab it after we clean this guy up."

Dominic smirked as Jack tried to get a good grab on Brian's shorter hair as they went inside, Mia burying a smile as she carried a few towels and a plastic bucket with some of their beach toys.

Brian gave Jack a quick rinse in the tub and then redressed him in the clothes he'd had on earlier while Mia showered and changed. _There was no point giving the kid a bath when they were about to eat dinner._

Mia took Jack downstairs while Brian took a quick turn in the shower and then found his phone where he'd left it in the kitchen. He thumbed through his phone, searching for the source of the beeping, and found an email.

His jaw clenched as he practically glared at his phone screen before tapping it a bit harder than necessary with his thumb. _No one could have possibly guessed Letty's account password, it was so abstract. They would have needed to use decrypting software._

"No freaking way", he muttered under his breath staring at the message and the number at the bottom dubiously. After almost a full minute of deliberating, he found a sticky notepad in the kitchen drawer with a pen and quickly unscrambled the numbers.

There was no way it was her… but Brian didn't exactly appreciate being fucked with.

He shook his head as he eye what did in fact appear to be a phone number with a New Jersey area code. He didn't really know what to make of this, but he had a few theories, and they all had quite a few holes. Brian glanced outside where Mia had Jack on the back patio, chatting with Dom as he watched the food on the grill.

With a frustrated sigh, and a darkening mood, Brian fired off a text message in response.

' _Who the fuck is this?'_

0

Letty's burner phone finally vibrated while she was sitting in her car parked next to the shipping yard near the Lincoln Tunnel. Her eyebrows rose slightly at the text she received.

 _Okay, so he didn't exactly believe it was her. She didn't like it, but she_ _ **was**_ _supposed to be dead._

Letty saved the number under a pseudonym that put him near the top of her contact list and hit the 'send' button.

" _Hello?"_

He answered warily on the fourth ring. She smirked, stamping down on the feelings of relief. _She hadn't wanted to start from scratch to track them down._

"I've got a bone to pick with you, O'Conner. Do you know you have a doppelganger in New York?"

" _Who the hell is this?"_

"Did you really share our back-up plan with other people?"

She smirked when she heard fumbling and assumed he'd dropped his cell phone.

" _ **Letty?**_ " he hissed incredulously. _Unseen by her, Brian glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Mia and Dom were both still busy outside._ _"Shit."_

"Very articulate", she teased. Half a second later her heart nearly stopped at an all too familiar sound of a baritone voice in the background, followed by child-like giggles. Her eyes closed against the sounds of her past… and the sounds she wanted in her future if she got lucky one more time. "Apparently I'm hard to kill", she drawled.

" _That's not funny"_ , Brian said flatly, walking out the front door and standing in the middle of the yard – putting the entire house between Dom and Mia and whatever was about to happen. _"Where are you?"_ he asked tensely. _"_ _Seriously, Letty"_ , he hissed angrily. _"What the fuck?"_

"New York", she repeated a bit exasperatedly. "Don't you listen?"

" _And you said I have a-_ _**what**_ _? Dammit, Let-"_

"Looks like you've still got a few Aces up your sleeve, don't you, O'Conner?" she teased wryly.

" _You're working with the Takers_ ", he growled under his breath. "You let us think you were dead this whole time?! Why did you do that?"

"Cheesy name by the way. 'The Takers'", she sighed. "I had reasons..." she trailed off. "I never meant to be away this long, but I got caught up."

" _Yeah, that'll go over really well with Dom"_ , he snapped before taking a few seconds to calm down. _"Tell me you're watching you_ _r_ _back. John's not always…_ _Th_ _at group looks out for themselves_ _, Letty."_

"Thanks, but I've figured that out on my own", she said seriously, voice quiet. "I'm okay. You don't need to worry about me."

" _Yeah, no need to be concerned about the woman who just_ _ **rose from the grave**_ _and deigned to give me a goddamn phone call"_ , Brian muttered.

"You're angry", she said oddly.

" _No kidding. We had a plan. Then all the sudden you were dead, we dropped a casket in the ground, we all were on the run again, tore Rio the hell up, Dom kind of had a death wish for a while – Mia and I have a baby – Letty, you were supposed to be here for this shit!"_

"Brian-"

" _You should have told me before now"_ , he said with a frustrated sigh, deliberately swallowing his growing anger for a later time. _"Jesus. What do you want? You want us to just come to New York and clean up a mess? Or are you coming home?"_

"I think that's going to be up to Dominic", she said after a minute.

" _Bullshit. He'd walk through fire for you any day of the week. You think he wouldn't do anything to have you back?"_

"I've walked through hell for him too! You know I have!" she shouted.

" _Then quit acting scared"_ , he said quietly. _"If you're not ready to come home yet, I'll fly out myself. Otherwise, when I hang up, I'm telling Dom and Mia what's going on, and there won't be any stopping him."_

"Either way, I'm kind of dumping all of this on you – again. I'm sorry", she said, lowering her voice again.

" _Shut up."_ He snorted. _"Was I this pathetic when I was whining about Mia and you got me drunk?"_

"Worse", she said dryly. "Is he happy, Brian?"

" _Come home, Letty"_ , he said tiredly. _"He's_ _better than he was, but_ _y_ _ou're his other half_ _and he needs you_ _._ _Nobody else can be that for him._ _"_

"Then I guess you'd better be ready for one hell of a family reunion", she drawled.

" _Right"_ , he muttered under his breath.

She snorted. "I can't believe he's your brother."

" _Me neither"_ , he rolled his eyes. " _What's the job?_ " he asked tersely.

She clucked her tongue patronizingly. "Uh-uh. If you know the game, then you know the rules." But she sighed. "It's big. We can't talk about this on the phone."

" _Then we're coming to you."_

 _That was the plan._ "See you soon, Brian."

" _Be careful, Letty."_

"You too. You've got my number now. Call when you're in town", she muttered before hanging up.

0

Brian put his cell phone back in his pocket and rubbed at his temples. He was not prepared for the conversation he was about to have. Letty being alive was _good_ news, amazing actually… but it would turn their lives upside down. _He probably should have deleted his email account before leaving L.A., but he hadn't been able to bring himself to end the last connection they could have had with Letty. And then when he'd gotten a new phone, he found himself adding the unused account to his phone again… How did this shit even happen?_

He went back into the house and into the kitchen where Mia was making an attempt at feeding Jack applesauce. _Apparently dinner was ready and on the table._ Dominic was leaning against the counter grinning in amusement at the mess on his nephew's face – and his sister's shirt.

"Guys-"

Two pairs of similar eyes zeroed in on him, and Brian's hands curled tightly around the back of the dining room chair, which was doing more to keep him upright than his legs at the moment. _He really hoped he could get through this in one piece._

Brian closed his eyes briefly, unable to prepare himself for the bomb he was about to drop, but he finally looked at Dom. "We have to go back to the States", he said quietly.

"Are you crazy?" Mia asked incredulously. "Why?"

"I got a phone call... There's a job in progress, and it's something Dom and I need to handle."

Dominic raised an eyebrow. "We said no more jobs", he reminded, sounding curious.

Brian shook his head. "You might want to sit down", he said, feeling a bit sick.

Dom quirked an eyebrow. "I'm good."

"You won't be in a minute", he muttered under his breath. "The job is incidental", Brian said flatly. "This is family business."

"Who was on the phone, Brian?" Mia asked, looking concerned.

He raked a hand through his too-short hair nervously. "Dammit." His finger twitched, and he craved a cigarette like he hadn't in a couple years.

"Is it that bad?"

Brian looked over at Dom again and ripped off the Band-Aid – before Dome started making calls to figure out which ones of their friends was stupid enough to fly back to the USA. "Letty's alive. She's in New York."

Mia recovered first, after nearly a minute of heavy silence, but she still looked stricken. "What did you say?" she asked hoarsely.

Brian wasn't sure if he wanted to take the words back just to take the look off her face, or repeat himself and jump headfirst. Finally he bit the bullet. "She's alive, Mia. Letty's alive." He gripped the back of his chair tighter as Mia sunk into her own next to him.

"How?"

"Dom?" Brian asked quietly.

"What happened?" Dom said finally.

Brian shook his head. He'd like to know that too. "I don't know-"

"What _happened_!?" Dom almost shouted, his palm smacking the counter.

"You think I have answers?!" Brian snapped, glaring angrily. "I ID'd a charred fucking body in the morgue! When I left, I had to puke in the plant in the hallway."

"Guys!" Mia interrupted before an actual argument broke out. "Letty is alive. That's all that matters." _Dom beating the hell out of Brian over Letty_ _being_ _undercover while they were all still in Los Angeles the on_ _e time_ _had been enough for her to watch._

Brian glared down at the table like it had offended him. "We have to meet her in New York, Dom. I have some calls to make."

"What is Letty doing in New York?" Dom asked.

"Wait", Mia interrupted. "Brian, how did you find out about Letty?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "She finally used her damn contingency plan and called me", he said tightly before walking out the sliding glass door and out to the beach.

The door was closed before Mia could get any words out.

0

Brian walked down to the beach out of hearing range, bracing himself to do something he didn't think he'd have to do again.

 _There was a cost every time he went undercover. Every time he became someone else, he gave up a small piece of who he really was. Maybe now, he was at a point where he could say he was most like himself, but he still had pieces of all the people he'd become._

He braced himself and made the call from memory anyway.

Her voice was familiar on the other end of the line. "Who is this?"

He almost grinned. "You always answer the phone like that, Lola?" _When it was her boyfriend's phone she was answering, she sure as hell did._

"Who the hell is this?"

He sighed. "It's Damien."

 _Silence._

Then _she_ sighed. "Your face was all over the news", she said quietly. "You could have told us."

He shook his head despite the fact that she couldn't see him. "Nothing happened like it was supposed to."

" _After_ … Brian O'Conner… you could have."

He winced, listening to the way she tested his name, making it real for all of them, and scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'm sorry. I thought it was better for you not to know."

"And now? You're calling for a reason."

He started walking down the beach. "Look, I'm not trying to get you guys involved in my shit, alright?"

"Dios Mio", she muttered irritably. "I'm annoyed with you, but we still like you well enough around here. If you need a favor, just ask."

"Some family business came up", he said carefully. "I wanted to ask Lino if he knew anyone in New York."

"You really are a crazy bastard, aren't you?"

"It's come up once or twice", he said dryly, running a hand through his short hair.

"Lino went to meet with Tremaine. He should be back in about an hour. I'll talk to him. Is this number okay to call you back?"

"Yeah, it's clear."

"We'll talk soon then."

"Stay safe, Lola."

"You too, Brian."

She disconnected almost abruptly, and he held back a wince. _That had gone better than he'd hoped._

He looked toward the house and knew he was nowhere near done giving explanations. _But first he called for a private jet._

0

Jack's face scrunched up and suddenly the forgotten plastic bowl of applesauce was being pushed to the floor, giving them a thirty-second warning before waterworks started.

"I've got him", Mia muttered, still looking stunned. "We'll _all_ talk after I get him to bed."

Dom was staring intently out the kitchen window, the roll of paper towels nearly being crushed in his grip. "Go on. I'll get the mess."

0

Less than twenty minutes later, Brian came back in the kitchen and found only Dom sitting at the kitchen table.

"Mia's putting Jack to bed."

Brian nodded. "Okay", he said quietly. "We're off the ground in four hours", he said. "We should leave in about two."

Dom nodded. "You're sure it was Letty?" he asked quietly.

"How'd she get your number?"

"We should wait for Mia. But-", he shrugged. "We both set up accounts on a website for wanted ads. She sent me a message with her number, more or less, and it went to the email on my phone. No one else would have known… I sent a text and she called back." Then he grimaced, remembering there was another person he should be calling right about now, and pulled his phone back.

 _Speed dial four…_

 _Rome._

His friend from his wayward years picked up by the third ring.

" _Hey, cuz!"_

Despite the way his day seemed to be going, his mouth twitched in a bit of amusement. "Rome, do I even want to know what you're up to right now?"

" _I'm tearin' it up in Fiji, baby!"_

"Sorry to interrupt your party time, man, but I gotta call in a favor."

" _Dude, what did you do?" Rome asked, sounding peeved._

"Nothing- well, nothing that's actually my fault… except for maybe in a roundabout way", he conceded.

" _Ain't those Torettos keeping your ass out of trouble?"_

Brian sighed. "It's about Dom's girl, Letty. She's alive."

" _Well, damn, that's great news! Why are you actin' so damn mopey?"_

"Rome, she's in New York... and she's working with John."

 _There was a momentary silence, and the Roman's low, "_ _ **Fu-uck**_ _."_

"My thoughts exactly", Brian muttered grimly.

" _Is Ghost with them?" Rome asked, rightly concerned over the situation._

Brian frowned. "He should still be in prison... I think."

" _So Ghost is a ghost?"_

"I sure hope so", Brian snorted. "But when have we ever had the odds in _our_ favor?"

" _Never. But we kick ass every time anyways, brother. So, where's my plane landing next?"_

Brian glanced towards Dominic who was doing a fairly bad job of acting like he wasn't listening while he finished his beer. "Meet us in New York, yeah? We're heading out in the next few hours… but I think we have to swing through Rio first."

" _What the hell are you doing that for?"_

Brian stared at Dominic resolutely, answering Rome, "Because I want Mia and Jack as far away from this shit as possible."

" _You think it's gonna get ugly?"_

"It's John", Brian said flatly. "What do you think?"

" _Alright, white boy, point taken. I'll get there before you then. What do you want me to do?"_

"Just get a suite at a hotel in the middle of the city, and stay out of sight. I don't need things blowing up before we even get there. We're still wanted. We need to get in, find Letty, and get out under the radar."

" _Hey, I can be discreet", Rome protested._

Brian scoffed. "Look, go to Four Points, alright? The one closest to Hudson Square and the Holland Tunnel. We'll track them down from there. Do me a favor and call Tej. We're going to need him on standby. Let him know what's up. Don't forget to use a fake ID."

" _I got you. I'll call tomorrow."_

"Thanks, man. We'll see you in a couple days."

Brian ended the conversation and dropped into the chair, feeling mentally exhausted already.

"Anything you want to tell me that you want to leave Mia out of?" Dominic asked quietly.

Brian raised both eyebrows. "No?"

"You asking or telling?" he quipped, shaking his head at Brian's cagey behavior.

Brian groaned and shook his head. "We should wait for Mia. I only want to do this once." He stared toward the kitchen and went to put away the mess from dinner.

Dominic let him have it and stepped back to lean against the counter as Brian started _stress cleaning_. It was better to give the kid something to do when he was vibrating with nervous energy. He frowned, trying to get his own thoughts in order.

 _Letty?_

He'd wanted information about Letty a long time ago but neither he nor Brian had been up for having that conversation.

Mia would make a good buffer.

Still...

This wasn't just about Letty if Dom was reading the situation correctly.

He waited for Brian to finish getting the floor clean before folding his arms across his chest. "I need another beer for this, don't I?" Dominic asked wryly.

Brian shrugged, "Probably. I know I will."

0

Another fifteen minutes later, the kitchen was clean, and Brian and Dominic were sitting at the kitchen table each working on another bottle of beer. They waited for Mia in a semi-tense silence.

Thankfully, Mia came down the stairs about five minutes later. She cocked an eyebrow at them both when she stepped into the kitchen and sighed. She went to the fridge and came back with a bottle of water before making herself comfortable in Brian's lap.

"You got Jack to sleep?" Brian asked.

She nodded. "He'll be out for an hour or two. So… I'm assuming you were waiting for me", she said finally, looking between them before settling her gaze in Brian. "What do you need to tell us about Letty?"

He pressed a kiss to her cheekbone, stalling for a minute. "I thought she was dead too", he said finally. "If there had been a chance- I would have found out for sure. I don't think I told you I was the one that identified the body", he said hollowly. "I asked them not to let you look."

"You know you didn't tell me that", Mia frowned.

"I didn't want you to see what I saw, okay? They showed me a body that had been barbecued by her car exploding and I thought it was Letty. I threw up in the fake plant in the hallway when I walked out of the morgue. The only thing identifiable was her dog tags", he shook his head harshly. "I should have known better."

Mia rubbed his shoulder soothingly. "But she just called you?" she prompted softly. "Are you sure it was her?"

Brian snorted. "It was her", he confirmed, raking a hand through his hair.

"How?" Dom spoke finally. "How the hell did she make it out of there?"

"I don't know. I thought she was in the car when it got blown up- We had a contingency plan", Brian said flatly. "But she was supposed to call me once she got somewhere safe if she had to use it. She never called."

"Did you say she was in New York right now?" Dominic frowned.

Mia blinked. "New York?"

Brian grimaced. "Letty is... working with a crew in New York."

"You already sent Rome to New York, and you're pissed. Spit it out already, Brian", Dom said pointedly.

Brian rolled his shoulders and stretched, releasing some of the tension. "She's working with my brother's crew."

Silence.

Brian took another swallow of his beer, deciding to give them a minute or two to process. He watched them have a silent conversation that he would have understood if he'd been in the frame of mind to pay attention properly.

"You have a brother that you haven't happened to even mention in any of the time we've know each other?" Mia frowned.

Brian smirked a bit. "My brother and I- he's my twin", he said with a shrug. "We don't exactly get the warm fuzzies from hanging out together."

"You have a twin brother?" Mia stared incredulously. "Who _are_ you?"

"You two don't get along."

Brian snorted at Dominic. "You wait, Toretto. You can tell me what an asshole he is after you meet him. He's a selfish dick."

Mia huffed out a laugh. "And I thought you didn't understand sibling rivalry."

"I never said that", he chuckled.

"Not those exact words, but you never-"

Brian interrupted her. "Mia, you and Dom have an actual relationship. I've never lied about my family. We didn't really have one. And John and I, well- we're complete opposites."

"He's still your brother", Mia shook her head.

"He's not my family", Brian said tensely. "Look, he's not always the nicest guy... I don't trust him, and I trust his crew even less. Mia, I don't want you or Jack anywhere near them."

"Are you telling me to stay here?" she arched an eyebrow.

"Put the eyebrow away", he teased. "I would never be stupid enough to try to tell you what to do. What I'm suggesting is that maybe you go visit Rosa and Nico for a while. Let me and Dom go get Letty and bring her home. It's going to be a sticky situation as it is... If you're with Rosa, I won't worry about you. It's bad enough that we're sneaking back into the U.S. I need you and Jack safe."

She sighed. "Alright, but you'd better keep in touch... both of you", Mia said seriously.

Dominic nodded. "You know we will."

Brian held onto Mia as he stood up. "We need to be at the airstrip in four hours", he said seriously. "Let's pack up, close down the house, and get out of here."

Mia watched him disappear upstairs before sitting back down and fixing her brother with a stern look. "This is going to be difficult for both of you", she said quietly. "You need each other. Just the same, I'm going to ask Roman to keep eyes on the both of you so no one gets too crazy."

Dom snorted. _They were in a sorry state if Roman needed to babysitting them._

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go… pack", she said with a grim smile.

"Go easy on him, Mia", he said warningly.

She softened slightly. "There's something to be said about me being the more intimidating sibling", Mia smirked before she turned serious. "He should have told me. I asked him, before we planned to abandon Los Angeles… I asked him if he was leaving anyone behind. He said no."

Dominic rubbed a hand over his head. _He'd had his own conversation with Brian in Rio that sounded a hell of a lot like the kid had felt pretty alone growing up-_

He had his own questions about that, but he wouldn't share a private conversation with his sister. "It's harder to talk about the painful shit. You know that."

She sighed. "I know. I wasn't going to yell at him. I just wanted to catch him before he went into full-on stubborn mode."

Dom grinned at his sister. "Would you feel better if I promise to keep an eye on him?"

"Yes. And I'm going to make him promise to keep an eye on you too", Mia said succinctly before giving her brother a smile and turning to go pack. _They could promise to keep each other out of trouble all they wanted. She was still calling Roman. With any luck, he'd give her a better idea of what was going on with her husband._

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 **A/N: Okay, so after being edited, it was over 5,000, so I moved some of it to the next chapter.**

 **Let me know what you think so far!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Winding Roads Eventually Bring You Home**_

 **Disclaimer: Hahahahahaha! No, I own nothing.**

 **Summary: This is a TFATF/Takers Crossover. Yes, I'm serious. And there is a smidgen of plot from Brick Mansions twisted into this too, but you don't need to watch the movie to understand what's going on. (I'm just using it as part of an undercover background.)**

 **Rating: M? …I think.**

 **A/N: CHECK OUT THE PROLOGUE FOR STORY INFO! (There is now an overview of the facts you need to know about this story in the beginning of the Prologue. If you are confused about anything I haven't mentioned, send me a PM, or ask in a review. I'll get back to you!)**

00 This has been edited 00

 _ **Chapter 2**_

"We need to leave in two hours", Brian said as he finished packing his clothes, money, and his hand gun in his duffel bag at the end of the bed.

"Okay."

He went to the bathroom and grabbed both of their toiletry kits from the bottom drawer that they left pre-packed just in case.

Mia took hers and shoved it in the side of her bag. "Thanks."

"So, how angry are you right now?" Brian asked as he and Mia finished packing their bags while Jack slept in his crib.

Mia straightened and shook her head with a sigh. "I'm not angry. I'm just trying to figure it out. You had a whole life before you met us that you never brought up. Everything we talked about while Dom was in prison… You left out some major details", she said pointedly.

"It's easier to focus on the present and the future when you ignore the past… especially when the past sucks. There was a reason I was such a good candidate for going undercover for most of my assignments. I didn't have anyone I wanted to come back to. It was easy, after a while to get lost in the person I was pretending to be."

"Brian-"

"Look, you should know that I called Lino", he said seriously.

"The guy from your last undercover?" Mia frowned. "Why?"

"He's pretty well connected with the underground", Brian said quietly. "He was out when I called. I left a message with Lola. She took it better than I thought… I figured she'd hang up on me", he chuckled. "I want to see if he has any guys in New York we can use. We're going to have to go in under the radar as much as possible. "We'll have to get some things together when we get there. It'll be easier with a starting point."

"You'll be careful. Both of you", Mia said pointedly. "Do what you have to do, Brian, but I want everyone to come back together."

"I'm just planning for the worst case scenario", he said wryly. "It'll be okay. We'll bring Letty home", Brian reassured quietly.

"Why didn't she find us sooner?" Mia asked.

"I don't know, Mia. I'm sure we'll find out. But I'd bet it was a dangerous combination of her own stubbornness, and thinking it probably wasn't safe."

Mia made a quiet noise of amusement. "Yeah, that probably sums it up. You two became friends right under my nose didn't you?" she asked softly. "How did that even happen?"

He gave her a quick grin. "It's a long plane ride to Rio. I owe you and Dom a few answers."

She sighed and went to give him a hug, clinging with the intent to stay there for several minutes, feeling relief when his arms wrapped around her in return that he wasn't hiding from her. _It had taken too much work to get to the point they were at now; she wasn't letting them slide downhill. She was a Toretto, and she knew how to dig her heels into the ground._ "Brian, it's going to be okay."

He sighed when they finally let each other go, and zipped his bag closed. "I hope so. I'll help you pack up Jack's things in a minute..." He trailed off pulling out his phone and scrolling through the contacts.

"Who are you calling now?"

Brian frowned. "Giselle."

"You don't think she-"

He shook his head definitively. "No." He didn't explain further as the other line picked up, and he stepped onto the balcony. "Giselle... Do you have a few minutes?"

"Is everything alright?"

"We're good here", he assured. "But we just got some news that knocked us on our asses."

"Now I'm worried anyway", she said wryly.

Brian huffed a laugh. "Letty's alive", he said after a minute.

"You're serious? How is that possible?"

"Dom and I are going to New York. And I called Rome to come meet us because she's been working with my brother's crew." He let out a wry laugh at the relief he felt that he didn't have to explain further. Giselle had known since after she had given Dom and him the information to find Braga. When they'd all met again in Rio, she had pulled Brian to the side and mentioned she'd done a little research and found out about his estranged brother, but she'd kept the information to herself.

"So she _is_ as crazy as you and Dom?" Giselle let out a quiet laugh. "That makes sense, I guess."

"We're all a little crazy around here, Giselle", he said plainly, smirking even though she couldn't see.

"There's a difference between being an adrenaline junkie, and having a death wish."

"That's not what this is."

Giselle made a thoughtful noise. "I thought for sure you'd both end up dead, going after Braga. But you stood behind Dom and didn't blink when I told him he was going on a suicide mission. That loyalty was something I hadn't seen in a very long time. And then, what happened in Rio- I don't think anyone else could have managed that."

"No one else is that crazy?" he teased.

"That's not what I mean."

"We had a lot of backup", he reminded wryly. "We would have been screwed otherwise."

"That is true", she said finally. "Remember that loyalty goes both ways."

Brian sighed. "Rome is meeting us in New York because he knows the crew. Tej is on standby is something goes wrong with us or Mia. We're taking her to stay with Rosa while we're gone. We don't want to drag everybody back in the country. We're all wanted. Hopefully nothing will go wrong."

"Call us if you need us", Giselle said seriously.

"Thanks. We'll call everyone when we can, but if you can send an update so they know we're getting on a plane soon, I'll let you know when we're safe."

"Be careful."

"Same."

They hung up and Brian went back inside to Mia and Jack.

0

And hour later, when Brian's phone rang _again_ – this time it was Lino calling back – Mia took the time to make her own call to Roman.

00

Twenty hours.

It took _twenty hours_ to fly from the Goa International airport where Brian had paid for a Boeing Business Jet to fly them to Rio.

The jet was decently large, but twenty hours was still a long time to be in a flying rectangle.

Mia had spread out a blanket on the floor of the sitting area with some toys for Jack to keep him busy, and she sat on the couch behind him.

Brian took a seat next to her, arm stretching across the back of the couch.

Dom took a seat in the recliner on the other side of the sitting room, and Brian grinned wryly. "I guess I should fill you guys in."

0

Brian's idea of 'filling them in' did not fully match Dominic's definition, although he spent more time talking about his past than he ever had before.

Dom couldn't say that he didn't appreciate it, but there was a pretty big chasm of information they were both still avoiding. _It was time to stop._

They near the sixth hour in their flight to Brazil when Mia decided to take a nap with Jack. Brian was pretending to be absorbed in a novel, but was more likely just flipping through the pages every couple minutes.

Dominic was lazily looking at a magazine, considering how to approach the subject that had been taboo for so long.

Letty's supposed murder had been a raw topic for both of them, and neither had wanted to go near it.

But the situation being what it is now... they couldn't avoid it any longer.

"Remember when you pointed a gun at me while I was hanging that shithead out the window?" Dom said dryly.

Brian looked up slowly. "You want to talk about how you almost killed David Park right now?" he asked a bit disbelievingly. "Good times", he muttered sarcastically.

"You remember telling me that Letty was your friend too?" Dom continued, ignoring him.

Brian's jaw went sideways for a second before he stated evenly, "I said that."

"You meant it didn't you?"

"I did."

"You and Letty became friends while she was undercover trying to get my record cleared?" Dom asked, wanting clarification.

"What part of that is hard to believe?" Brian asked a bit abruptly. Then he sighed. "Look... her UC wasn't exactly like ours, okay? It was more complicated and long-term. She wasn't trying to get a driving spot right away. She was staying in the scene. Whatever else you want to know- you need to ask her. Because I don't have answers. I wish I did."

00

Rosa had used some of the money Dom had left her to move them out of the favellas and into a two-bedroom house with a loft that had been converted into another bedroom at the edge of the city. The fenced in yard gave a sense of greater safety when she wanted to spend time outdoors with her son. She was also working part-time as a substitute teacher at the elementary school in their district, and could use the daycare for Nico during her working hours.

Brian and Dominic didn't stay in Rio for long. They were only there about eight hours before going back to the airport – just long enough for everyone to get some sleep, get the plane refueled, and do another safety inspection.

Brian couldn't hide his grin watching Jack play with Nico. He didn't get to play with other kids often. Mia was notably calmer having another woman around to chat with and distract her from the current situation. And Rosa was honestly happy to have company that she considered to be family.

"If you need anything, or something goes wrong, call Tej", Brian said quietly as Dominic said goodbye to Rosa and Nico before they left. "I told him to watch for your call."

"Let me know when you get there so I know you're alright", Mia said seriously. "Bring Letty home."

"You know we will."

Dominic came over and gave Mia a hug, and kissed Jack's head since Brian wasn't letting the kid go just yet. "Don't worry, Mia. We'll be back soon."

"Be safe", she said quietly. "All of you."

Brian handed Jack back to Mia, kissing them both again. "Okay, let's get out of here."

00

"So this is New York", Dominic said with a frown as they walked down the sidewalk to hail a cab from the airport.

"Yeah, it's kind of like L.A."

Dom shot him the ultimate dirty look. " _No._ "

Brian grinned, and then let out a piercing whistle. A cab pulled in front of them and stopped like magic. He opened the back door and stepped into the cab. "Come on."

"Where we headed?" the cab driver asked impatiently.

"Four Points hotel on Charlton Street", Brian answered quickly as Dominic pulled the door shut.

Dom cursed under his breath as the car veered haphazardly into traffic. "Is this where you learned to drive?" he glared at Brian.

Brian smirked. "That would explain a few things, but no." He pulled out his phone and saw a text from Lino about his New York contact before texting Rome that they were on their way to the hotel. He glanced at the cab driver and kept his voice low when he spoke. "My friend hooked us up with one of his guys here. We'll meet him tonight."

"It's nice having connections, isn't it?" Dom said wryly.

"You would know."

When the finally pulled up to the curb, Dom shot him a wary side glance. "I don't think you and I have the same definition of under the radar."

Brian smirked at the overly expensive hotel. "Just follow my lead."

When he checked in at the front desk, his credit card got a double take, and the concierge sent a bottle of red wine to their suite. "Welcome back to New York, Mr. Travers. Let us know if you need anything."

Brian grinned. "Thank you."

00

Luke Hobbs was working late.

In the last few months, he'd had more than his fair share of late nights. He'd spent the last few months going after less prominent criminals while training his new team to work together.

Eventually he would find Dominic Toretto. And when he did, he needed his team to be a finely oiled machine. Hobbs wasn't going to let what happened in Rio be a permanent stain on his record.

Cops _can_ make some of the best criminals. He knew this. But he'd still underestimated Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner – the dynamic duo from hell. It had cost him.

He hated that they'd managed to pull one over on him, but he respected it.

It was a nearly impossible feat.

The trail had gone all but cold by now. And all his spare time was wrapped up in paperwork, and doing everything possible to track down a lead.

He was the only one left in the office now. Most of the lights were dimmed after hours, and he was using his desk lamp.

The sound of familiar heels clacking on the tiled floor alerted him that he hadn't been as alone as he thought.

He didn't look up until she tossed a folder on his desk.

Monica Fuentes.

When she'd transferred to their DSS office, she'd immediately made her presence known. She had made a notable footprint during her time undercover, and was a solid agent.

Her transfer hadn't been a coincidence. It had come directly after the mess in Rio. She'd had her own experience with Brian O'Conner and his friend Roman Pierce. And the first thing she'd done after she'd passed her evaluation, lie detector test, and been given proper security clearance was come see him.

She had a slightly different perspective on the situation, and a no-nonsense attitude that meshed with his own. They'd gone over all of O'Conner's old cases, and done what they could to fill in quite a few holes.

It had painted quite a picture, but Hobbs still had questions.

And digging for answers was more difficult than anticipated.

Hobbs looked up from the file he'd been going over.

Her eyebrows were raised, and she had one hand planted on the edge of his desk as she leaned forward slightly, the other resting at her hip, gripping another file.

"You need to look at that", she said, glancing down at the manila folder.

Hobbs picked up the folder, and glanced at the first printed page.

"FRS picked up a hit in New York. And then we ran into something unexpected."

"Toretto?"

"Nope."

"Ain't interested", he shook his head and shut the folder.

"Yes, you are", she said seriously. "Keep looking."

Luke Hobbs wasn't one to get bossed around buy a woman in a tight skirt, but he knew Fuentes well enough to know she wouldn't be bringing him something unless it was important. He conceded and picked the file up again, this time going beyond the first page.

The first thing he saw was the familiar face of Brian O'Conner. He frowned at the fingerprints and the name at the bottom.

"So he's using another identity? How long has he been in the U.S?"

"That's not O'Conner", she said, shaking her head.

"Excuse me?"

"His name is John Rahway", she answered, sounding a bit peeved. "You wouldn't believe the hoops I had to jump through to get his file. I had to get a judge to unseal his Juvie record. He stays off the record fairly well after he turns eighteen though."

"So, who the hell is he?"

"If I'd never met Brian, I'd say he was no one. But…" She set the second folder on the desk facing him, and opened it.

The first things he saw were two mug shots. The clothes were different, and so were the names. The date was the same for both, and the faces were mirror images.

"Meet John Rahway and Brian O'Conner", Monica said on a sigh. "They're twins. You know those hoops I mentioned jumping through?"

Hobbs grunted, staring at the paperwork silently.

"For as badly as the FBI seems to want Brian's head on a platter, they went to an awful lot of trouble to keep the fact that he has a brother under wraps."

"We'll look into it", Hobbs said absently. "It's a starting point."

"Actually, this isn't the most interesting thing I've seen today", she admitted, sounding chagrined. "We might have another lead."

"Don't keep me waiting."

She leaned to pull out the first folder and turned a few pages before stopping.

It was hard as hell to surprise Hobbs, but he looked visibly startled. His eyes narrowed quickly and he looked up at her. "Explain to me why I'm looking at a current picture of Toretto's dead girlfriend."

"Turn the page", she said quietly.

 _The next page had a photograph of John Rahway standing near the Holland Tunnel with Letty Ortiz._

"How did we get this?"

"When the hit came up for Rahway – we thought he was O'Conner – I asked tech to backtrack though the camera footage. He's been in New York awhile. So has Letty. Once she was identified, we started tracking her too."

"Toretto and O'Conner?" Luke growled. "Have they popped up?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"What about Ortiz?" Hobbs questioned. "There's a gravestone with her name on it in Los Angeles. Everyone thinks she's dead."

Monica shrugged. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

"No", he mused wryly, standing up. "But I do believe it's time to pay our respects to New York City."

"I'm coming with you."

"Get packed up then." He glanced down at her heels. "And don't forget your ass-kicking shoes. I'll pick you up in an hour."

She smirked as she left the office. _It would be nice to get back into the field for a bit._

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 **A/N: And that's chapter two!** **Review** **and let me know what you think. This was kind of a filler chapter, which made it difficult to get into, but this is the beginning of the Rabbit Hole. Send a shout-out if you get lost! (I'm sure I'll catch any typos after it's posted and I check it online. Lol. )**


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